


A Bullet and a Fist

by mizutanitony



Category: Mass Effect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizutanitony/pseuds/mizutanitony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard and Garrus go on a mission during ME1, and Garrus does something to get on the commander's bad side. </p><p>Owned by bioware</p><p>Done as an art trade with Greenmamba5 on deviantart!</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bullet and a Fist

A Bullet and a Fist

 

"CAN YOU TELL ME AGAIN WHY YOU DECIDED NOT TO BRING TALI?!"

Shepard turned the driver's seat of the Mako to see Garrus' head sticking out from an open hatch; his mandibles twitching angrily and gave her an unconcerned shrug. 

"I thought we could get this mission done without her," she responded taking a sip of water from a canteen, "Besides, you're always messing with the damn thing. I thought you'd have some knowledge of how it works."

"I mess with the weapons' system," snapped the turian tossing out what looked like a clamp, "and this is a human tank! What makes you think I'd know how to fix it?!"

"Because you are always touching it," retorted the commander through gritted teeth, "Every time I'm in the cargo bay you're always fiddling with it."

"You're kidding right?" snorted Garrus grabbing another tool. "That's your reason?"

Not appreciating the sarcasm, Shepard used her biotics to flick a wrench at the turian's head. It made a dull thud as it hit his head making her laugh.

Letting out an agitated growl, Garrus activated his omni-tool to see if any of his make shift repairs had done some good to the engine. They were still a few kilometers from their location; a journey they wouldn't be able to make on foot due to the high temperatures outside, which made the Mako their only means of reaching the enemy base. That is, until the commander had decided to take a detour and literally drove the tank off the cliff.

He had the utmost respect for the human, or Reyna as she occasionally liked to be called. She was a good commander, popular with the people she led. A bit of a renegade; acting in such a way because she knew that the rules had to be broken sometimes to get the job done. All in all, he respected her and considered her as much of a friend as was possible, but today she was....

A loud clang from the back of the Mako interrupted his thoughts and he tapped his head against the wall of the tank as he begged, "I would appreciate it if you'd stop interrupting me."

"I thought you said you didn't know how to fix it?" chided the commander from the driver's seat.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a few deep breaths before saying, "Unlike you Shepard, I have some semblance of experience in fixing things."

"What's that supposed to mean?" huffed Reyna her boots slamming against the floor of the tank.

Activating the override, Garrus stood up and began to speak.

"It means that..." he was interrupted by a loud bang followed by large clouds of smoke. 

Luckily for them, the drive core was still working and the emergency fans kicked on. His frustration getting the better of him, Garrus kicked the tool box sending the items across the floor and a searing pain up his foot.

"Real smooth Vakarian," laughed Reyna from behind her fist.

"I wouldn't have done that if you'd been watching where you were going," grunted the sniper as he hobbled toward the passenger seat.

"Again, I don't know what you're referring to," hummed the human as she attempted to restart the systems.

Garrus sighed in aggravation at the sight. "Please, tell me you aren't attempting to start this thing?"

Flipping the ignition switch, the human shrugged, "Maybe it fixed itself."

"'Maybe it fixed itself?'" his voice clicking heavily with disbelief.

"The hell was that?" inquired Shepard as she looked around the interior of the tank trying to locate the source of the noise. 

"What was what?" replied Garrus, his voice still clicking as he began fiddling with the gun controls.

Throwing her arm over the back of the chair, she craned her neck trying to find the source of the sound. 

"That clicking noise, I've heard it before." She gave an inquisitive look to the turian, his mandibles were twitching but she didn't understand their meaning but she guessed it wasn't good. "You did something to the Mako, didn't you?"

The volume of her voice lowered to a tone where Garrus knew he was pushing his luck, but he figured she deserved it. 

Adjusting his flange he said, "I don't know what you're referring to," letting out another series of clicks after speaking.

"Bull." snapped Reyna. 

Getting up from the chair she began investigating everywhere Garrus had stepped during his attempted repairs all the while oblivious to the true source of her annoyance. As he continued to annoy the commander, Garrus turned on the external cameras and began checking their perimeter. The planet they were on had a group of mercs on it that had been hired by Saren recently to acquire some tech for unknown reasons. Garrus wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to find another reason to put a bullet between the bastard's eyes.

From what they could tell, Saren had provided the mercs with enough funds to procure several turrets along with high grade military weapons to deter enemy forces. Their source, an unknown merc in the group, had given them the necessary information making the Mako a given along with the only two tech experts on the Normandy. However, when Garrus found only Shepard in the tank he knew the mission was going to be more trouble than it was worth. Still, he kept his mouth shut. Opening his mouth in the first place was what got him in trouble with Pallin and his investigation thrown out forcing him to join up with Shepard. Right now, he'd rather put up with sitting in a sweltering tank than sitting at a desk being degraded about the way he did his job.

What the hell was that?

His eyes flicked to the right of the view screen and he adjusted the camera but the turret was too slow. When he finally got a glimpse at shadow he'd seen, a violent explosion rocked the tank sending Garrus to the ground.

"HOLY SHIT!" shouted Shepard as she was thrown back against the wall, absorbing most of the damage with her barrier and running to the driver's seat, "Garrus what the hell is going on?!"

"They've spotted us!" answered the turian, shakily getting up the ground. 

He was nearly knocked off his feet again if it wasn't for Shepard using her biotics to keep him upright. 

"Thanks," he told her removing his sniper rifle from his back.

"No, problem," smiled the commander as she climbed into the gunner's seat. "I was hoping they'd come to us."

"How many?" he gave a short laugh as he loaded his gun with shredder rounds; cocking a fresh round into the chamber.

"Looks like anywhere between twenty and thirty." responded the commander coolly; her hands working the controls of the machine gun. "They're hiding in the rocks so it's hard to get a good read on their exact numbers. That last rocket knocked took out the primary sensors. I'm going to have to go manual with the guns." 

Her hands flew across the keyboards; the low mechanical hum of the machine gun barely audible over the barrage of bullets peppering the thick armor of the tank.

"Distance?" requested Garrus, fastening his helmet into place; his voice cold and mechanical already formulating a strategy.

"Closest enemy is around two hundred meters and the furthest is around four hundred based on cover."

"That's it?" Garrus asked making the commander laugh as she opened the door to the Mako.

"That's it." said the commander, a small chuckle in her voice as she began laying cover fire.

"Well then," laughed Garrus, "I'll be sure to leave you some."

The last thing he saw before he left the Mako was the extension of the human's middle finger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I call bullcrap on that story, Skipper," laughed Williams over the rim of her glass.

"Swear to God," chuckled the commander over a runny mouthful of eggs, "Garrus took down twenty of the bastards before I even got five of them with the machine gun."

Kaidan and Chakwas laughed along with Ashley, while Wrex ground his fork violently into his meal.

"Fass uh ur utt?" asked Williams through a mouthful of what was supposed to pass for oatmeal.

The krogan looked up from his plate and snorted, "Swallow your food before you talk to me. I don't need to see that slop you humans call food messing with my appetite."

Williams proceeded to stick her tongue out with a large amount of oatmeal still on it but stopped when both Kaidan and Shepard cleared their throats loudly.

"What'd I do?" asked the chief after gulping her food down loudly.

Wrex gave a loud audible grunt of disgust and tossed his tray into the garbage before heading to the lift. The faint muttering of "Disgusting little whelp," was heard as he made his way back to his quarters.

"Like you're one to talk, you freaking overgrown frog."

"Watch it, Chief." warned the commander pushing away her final plate for the evening.

Pushing away his own plate, Kaidan cracked open a soda and sighed, "So, you were telling us about Garrus wiping out a whole merc squad while you sat in the tank cowering."

Sending out a small biotic blast as Kaidan took a drink, Shepard and Ashley laughed loudly as soda poured down the lieutenant's chest.

"God damn it, Shepard," grumbled the biotic wiping himself with a towel, "That was my last soda!"

Giving him a wink, Reyna picked up her plates and sighed, "I'm going to check in on Tali and Garrus to see how the repairs are coming on the Mako. Kaidan you're off for the night. Chief," Ashley immediately snapped to attention, "you're taking over the night shift up on the bridge."

"Permission to speak freely, Skipper?" the Chief asked a little more aggressively than normal.

Intrigued, Reyna nodded at the chief, "Permission granted, Williams."

"Is this a disciplinary action due to my attitude toward, Wrex? Because if so..."

"In part yes, it is Williams," said Shepard cutting the chief off, "You are on board a ship with non-human life forms. You must act in a professional and courteous manner. You've been making great strides but if you ever act like that in front of me again I will have you removed from this ship is that understood?"

The look in the chief's wide eyes was the only answer she needed. "Glad you see things my way. Now get some rest, you have a long night ahead of you."

Williams gave a sharp, silent salute before turning on her heel toward the restroom while Shepard headed toward the lift. A few minutes later she was in the bay, Wrex was fiddling with his shotgun and the sounds of Tali's moans at the state the Mako was in while Garrus tried to explain that it wasn't his fault.

"I don't care whose fault it is, Garrus!" snapped the young quarian, "The fact remains that we have very few supplies as we need to be more careful with what we have!"

"Well then yell at Shepard," huffed the turian as he slammed down another piece of plating. "She's the one that drove us off a cliff and knocked the cooling unit loose!"

"Everything going all right over here?"

"It'd be a lot easier if I had more plating to help with the repairs, but we'll get by Shepard. And the Mako," Tali slapped her hand against the hull of the tank, "will be ready to blast Saren and those bastards to pieces." She turned to the commander and with a laugh said, "So long as you avoid another seventy-five meter drop onto a boulder."

"Yeah, well next time I'll take you and you can find me a better short cut," joked the commander.

"I think I'll let Liara do the navigation on any other missions where you will be in the driver's seat."

Shepard and the quarian broke into a small fit of laughter until a familiar clicking noise once again hit the biotic's ear.

"Damn it!" cursed the commander. "There it is again!"

"There's what again?" asked Tali as she soddered another piece of plating into position. 

Pressing her ear against the tank Shepard held up a finger to her mouth and whispered, "There's this clicking noise coming from the Mako. Do you know what's causing it?"

Tali's eyes narrowed and her head tilted in confusion. 

"That isn't the Mako making the clicking noise. That's Garrus."

There was the sound of metal hitting the floor followed by a dull thud as Shepard pushed away from the tank.

"What do you mean 'That's Garrus'?"

Tali pointed up at the top of the tank and said, "It's a noise he makes whenever he's frustrated or agitated."

Shepard's eyes caught sight of a dark blue blur attempting to sneak behind a few crates as the commander's biotics flared. 

"Everyone out now!"

Tali, the requisitions officer, and any other human in the vicinity ran for the lift as soon as possible while Wrex took a seat on a crate in the corner.

"Vakarian! Get out here, now!"

"Need some help Shepard?" chuckled Wrex as he checked the heatsink on his shotgun, "I just got hold of a new set of shredder rounds and that turian's been getting on my last nerves."

Shepard shook her head and shot out a biotic blast at another stack of crates and chuckled when she heard a loud groan of pain.

"Nice shot," remarked Wrex lazily, "Just make sure to put on a good show."

Cracking her knuckles, Reyna approached the stack. As she drew closer, the sound of the turian in pain was like a symphony to her ears. Using her biotics she cleared away the mess and lifted Garrus to his feet.

"Commander," he said with a groan clutching his stomach.

"Garrus," she said with a malicious grin.

"I take it we're going to have that sparring match?" he asked with a nervous twitch of his mandibles.

She shook her head and pointed to the center of the cargo bay. "No, you're going to help me set up my new punching bag. Think you can manage?"

Garrus gave a defeated sigh and a half-hearted salute, "Whenever you're ready, Commander."


End file.
